Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Please Sir, can I have my ball back?

Jason claimed that there was nothing more to be said about this classic film, so w/ the gauntlet thrown, I thought I'd give it a shot. Before I get to that though, I give you this... a site where you can buy your very own Victory Jersey, just like Michael Caine wore. I'm not sure if people would actually order the Michael Caine shirt; I would think Pele & Stallone are more popular, but if I were ordering one (and I may just do this), I'd get the Capt. John Colby. He played for West Ham United, before the war ended (or hopefully just interupted) his career.

As we get to the actual film, I'm going to say that it's a very under-rated movie. Other than the fantastic score, it's certainly not Oscar caliber, but John Huston wasn't going for that w/ this one. Considering the fact that he made The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, The African Queen, The Asphalt Jungle, Moby Dick, & The Man Who Would be King, he certainly has the credentials to make one for the paycheck @ the end of his career, but that's not what he was doing. Critics have also suggested that Victory is the result of his age & inability to make a decent film as he was getting sick, but The Dead came out 6 years later & is fantastic. Obviously a talented directer, even through his final film, I want to suggest that Victory isn't just a stupid soccer film or a cheap rip-off of other war movies, but an homage to all the escape movies that came before it. The references to Stalag 17, The Great Escape & La Grande Illusion are obvious, but the other night, I even noticed a reference to The Sound of Music. Even Bill Conti's score references the music of older films. W/ all this in mind, check it out again & be sure to grab one of those sweet sweet jerseys while they last. I'm sure they'll go fast. I'll leave you w/ a rather positive review from The New York Times & the knowledge that while writing this I realized something else about the film, so I have @ least one more Victory post in me.

2 comments:

Stacey
said...

I was surprised about how good Sylvester Stallone was, and how fine Michael Caine looked. Especially after seeing him in Hannah and Her Sisters. It was good, but I wouldn't watch it, you know, 50 times or anything like that.